Having beat Petrosian, Polugaevsky, and Huebner in the candidates matches, Viktor Korchnoi
once again earned the right to play Anatoly Karpov
for the title. The match was held in Merano, Italy. The format was identical
to the 1978 match: the first player to achieve 6 wins (draws not counting) is crowned
world champion.

The headline of the tournament again largely centered on the political issues. Korchnoi's
wife and son were still in the Soviet Union. His son was promised to be released to join his
father in exile if he gave up his passport. When he did so he was promptly drafted into the
Russian army. Korchnoi took the opportunity of the match to publicize the situation of his
wife and son, drafting an open letter to the Soviet government to release them both. This
continuing effort likely led to his dismal performance as Karpov swept to victory in what
was dubbed the "Massacre in Merano".[1]

The match was supposed to start on September 19th, but because of Korchnoi's insistence that
he would not play unless his family was released, Fridrik Olafsson, president of the
International Chess Federation, made a unilateral decision to delay the match for a month.
Perhaps in the name of human rights the Soviet Government would release the family. The
Russians were outraged. Early in August, at a meeting of the International Chess Federation
in Atlanta, they made a great protest, after which it was decided that the "official"
date would return to September 19th. But since Merano was not yet ready, actual play would
start October 1st.[2]

In spite of the protests, Korchnoi's son was arrested for evading army service, sentenced
to two and half years in labor camp, and served the full sentence.

The match took place between October 1st and November 19th, 1981.
The purse was 800,000 Swiss Francs. After 18 games, with a score of 6 to 2,
Anatoly Karpov successfully defended his title.

offramp: <chess61: <Slomarko> Your question is valid and very logical. This should not be called a "rematch". Korchnoi had to qualify. If we stick to World Chess Championship terminology, this is not a rematch.>
I agree entirely. This match was NOT a rematch.

Fusilli: <Petrosianic: Korchnoi could have stopped it. He could have refused to play in 1978 unless his family were released. The world would not have accepted Karpov as world champion by default twice.>

I suspect you are overestimating how much the world would have cared, although we will never know.

On the other hand, I am pretty sure that if he had beaten Karpov and become the world chess champion, then his chances of being heard and supported by the international community would have been much stronger. In other words, the best possible scenario for him would have been to become world champion, and I am sure he had blind confidence that he would.

Howard: Now you know the reason that the match was sometimes referred to as the "Massacre In Merano".

Out of fairness to Korchnoi, he got off to an extremely poor start in that match, scoring only a draw out of the first four games. For the remainder of the match, he was able to steady himself, but it was way too late by then.

Joshka: <offramp> Correct, this was not a REMATCH. Korchnoi fully qualified. Korchnoi was given nothing!. But he was a bit lucky Bobby was not playing, cause he would not have played in any World Championship Matches. Bobby and Karpov would have had their duals!!

Howard: Regarding Petrosianic's comment, your point has been made before. But please bear in mind the number of games involved in these two instances. In the 1978 match, it wasn't until 17 games that the score was 4-1, with 12 draws. In the 1981 contest, it was only 9 games before it became 4-1--a rather significant difference.

To put it another way, Karpov's play in the second match had been superb, including for those first nine games--probably the reason few people were giving Korchnoi much of a chance after those first nine games. But in the first match ?! Let's see.....Karpov should have damn well lost Game 5 and it was by a miracle that he drew. He should have lost Game 7, too, but then (to be fair) so should Korchnoi. And in the infamous 17th game, Karpov should have lost that too, but won.

As I see it, 4-1 in the first match was a different ball game than in the second one.

A.T PhoneHome: To say Korchnoi was "a bit lucky Bobby was not playing" is true only if Korchnoi had been afraid of playing against Fischer which I highly doubt.

Anyways, Bobby Fischer stopped playing in 1972. I wonder which accepted branch of logic dictates that because a person stopped doing something, he/she would absolutely beat someone nine years later in the thing in question.

As for this match, Karpov had one title defence behind him. Maybe not the most convincing but a title defence altogether which made it easier for Karpov to come to the second World Championship match.

harrylime: <A.T PhoneHome: To say Korchnoi was "a bit lucky Bobby was not playing" is true only if Korchnoi had been afraid of playing against Fischer which I highly doubt.
Anyways, Bobby Fischer stopped playing in 1972. I wonder which accepted branch of logic dictates that because a person stopped doing something, he/she would absolutely beat someone nine years later in the thing in question.

As for this match, Karpov had one title defence behind him. Maybe not the most convincing but a title defence altogether which made it easier for Karpov to come to the second World Championship match.>

A.T PhoneHome: With all due respect <harrylime>, you can't possibly know that. It is also true that I can't prove the opposite end and that's simply because we didn't have Fischer playing after 1972.

And my post concerned year 1981. So you cannot expect me to answer to your question as I never addressed those two years.

By the way, I share your admiration for Bobby Fischer and I consider him to be one of the greatest so don't get me wrong. But I don't understand why we should draw hypotheticals on things that never took place and say that Fischer would win games that were never played. The fact Fischer stopped playing in 1972 doesn't suddenly make his results bad.

Petrosianic: <A.T PhoneHome>: Before you waste too much time here, I should warn you that Harrylime is about a 1200 player, fanatically in love with the Bobby Fischer legend, but absolutely despises the real Fischer for not living up to the myth he's built. Presenting facts to harry will make no difference, he'll simply giggle and forget them.

A.T PhoneHome: <Petrosianic> Before I registered here, I went through quite a few games and read the kibitzing and I saw him kibitz on many of those games so I knew his stance before I posted here so it's okay. He has his stance and I have mine and I can certainly share my take on something.

Petrosianic: <A.T PhoneHome>: <Before I registered here, I went through quite a few games and read the kibitzing and I saw him kibitz on many of those games so I knew his stance before I posted here>

Yeah, but you seem to actually know something about the events that transpired. The question isn't really about stances so much as about ability (or lack of ability) to discuss them intelligently. If you want to waste your time, go ahead, I just didn't want you to be taken off guard.

A.T PhoneHome: <Petrosianic> Thank you for the first statement, seeing it's a compliment! And it's not necessarily wasting time. After all, I am not disrespecting Fischer or anyone for that matter. If my posts on this subject matter weren't of constructive manner, I'd be wasting my time.

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